Milestone anniversary for the most famous of all cup finals

Water final: The playing conditions helped make it the most memorable Challenge Cup final.

Published:14:26Friday 11 May 2018

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Friday marked the 50th anniversary for the most famous Challenge Cup final match ever played - the 1968 ‘Watersplash Final’, so-called because of the atrocious conditions in which the match was played.

Wakefield Trinity narrowly lost the match 11-10 to Leeds, but that hardly begins to tell the whole story.

Trinity legend Ian Brook with his 63 Wembley shirt.

“It just had everything,” says Ian Brooke, who played right-centre that game and still lives in Durkar.

“It’s up there with my biggest memories because of the game and the conditions.

“We’d never played in conditions like that before, or again. It wouldn’t have been played today, but when you have over 80,000 already in the stands, what could you do? I think they thought it couldn’t be called off.”

Heavy rain before the game turned the pitch into a lake, reducing the game into a farce, with players unable to stay on their feet.